The Hatter nudged the door to their hovel of a home that was more than comfortable and stepped inside the small round room. The house itself was made of a tree, one of the great trees that grew so magnificently huge that they could live in its stump quiet comfortably, and the tree itself, having been knocked over by Jabberwocky long ago was still outside the home and still served as a great supply of firewood and entertainment for Kat. The splintered edges that had topped stump were chopped off first by the Hatter himself and he had used the jagged pieces to build a half fence around the front and only entrance. The splinters were several feet taller than the Hatter but that never bothered him, nor did it faze him. He went about the work without complaint or issue.
He had also hollowed out the inside of the stump so that they had living quarters. The room was separated into three parts, a kitchen and living area, a bathroom, and the bedroom that Kat and Hatter shared. The bathroom was rather small and was mainly a shower, a sink, and a toilet. The bedroom was divided between the two, two wardrobes, two beds – one a normal queen sized bed and one a cat bed that was over stuffed and covered in feathers and bells and pillows, and a vanity that Kat alone used. The living room was the largest room in the home since it doubled as a kitchen as well. It held a kitchen table, chairs scattered about randomly, and a wide mahogany wardrobe with locks and chains wrapped thickly around the handles.
The Hatter took his ward into their shared bedroom and turned his back to the bed and eased her small frame down onto his mattress. When he stepped away from her she curled into a ball and nuzzled her nose into her hands. Hatter stepped back and looked at the girl before deciding that he wouldn't wake her.
He moved carefully across the room to his wardrobe, undressing and changing into blue silk pajamas. He left his hat carefully perched on his head. Then he moved back to the edge of the bed where Kat had made herself comfortable. She had let one leg fall off of the bed and was stretched over the bottom half of the bed. Her tattered dress was covered in blood and in the new and much brighter light was fairly obviously so.
The man's previous decision to let her sleep on was void at seeing her state, so he nudged her awake, "Kat, darling, wake up. Wake up, Kat."
She groaned and rolled over, her blue and slate colored hair falling over her face.
"Kat, get up, you're getting blood on the sheets." The Hatter persisted, smiling and kneeling on the bed, taking his ward in his arms and pulling her into his lap.
She nuzzled into his neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist. He laced his arms under her thighs and pulled her up as he stood.
"I'm going to get you cleaned up, okay Kat?" He continued, knowing she was tired from hunting all night and knowing that if he didn't get the blood cleaned up there would be trouble.
She merely mumbled, "Hatta," and allowed him to carry her into the bathroom through one of the two doors, one door also parallel to the living room, and sit her limply on the edge of the sink.
She was leaning against his chest and he moved her hair and unbuttoned the back of her dress, pulling the multicolored material over her head. He kept one arm wrapped around her waist, moving from above her outer clothes to beneath as he pulled the dress off. She had white shorts on beneath the dress and a white undershirt. He then picked her up once again and laid her limp figure in the bathtub, for lack of space anywhere else and urgency to clean away the blood.
He turned the water in the sink on and washed away the blood residue from her clothing as quickly as he could, then wet a rag and cleaned her legs and arms. After completing the task as quickly as he could he rinsed the rag as clean as possible, washed the sink, and dampened the rag and Kat's clothes with antiseptic.
Then he picked Kat up again, not being too comfortable with holding her while she was what he considered indecent. He took her back into the bedroom and laid her out on his bed again, then went to her wardrobe and picked carefully, uneasily, through her things. He found a night gown of a dark crimson for her and took it back to her.
"Do you want to dress yourself or are you going to make me do that too?" He asked her sleeping figure fairly bitterly.
She smiled in her half sleep and held her arms up for him to slip the gown over her head. At her gesture he laughed slightly and picked her back up from the bed so she was sitting up and dressed her in the gown that hit at just her knees.
Kat then took her arms and wrapped them tightly around the Hatter's waist and squeezed him. The Hatter was mildly surprised at her random show of affection, though she usually had random bursts of affection that she displayed quite openly toward him.
"I love you Hatta." She mumbled quietly, nuzzling her head into his chest and flattening her furry ears to her head.
This shocked him, and his mouth opened for a moment and remained gaped before his reply slipped past his lips, "I love you too Kat."
"Can I sleep with you tonight?" She asked squeezing his waist tighter and clasping her fingers around her wrists.
He didn't reply, but he pulled her arms off of his waist. Her sleepy eyes opened, looking dismayed at having to sleep far away in the cold corner where her bed was. But he knelt, hooked his arm beneath her knees, and slid her across the bed.
"Of course you can, Kat, but I always sleep on this side." He answered in his usually quirky rise and fall rhythm.
She smiled and let her eyes close again. She curled up into a ball and fell asleep purring gently. The Hatter lay down beside her, flicking the light off and removing his hat. He hesitated a moment and then placed his hat very gently on Kat's head.
In the darkness, the Hatter pretended to have his eyes closed and not to be smiling at the young girl that grinned a sharp toothed grin. The lavender reflection of her eyes winked in the dim light and her teeth shown before she closed her lips and pressed them against his temple.
"Goodnight Kat." The Hatter said quietly, wondering what had inspired the girl to kiss him because she'd certainly never done it before.
"Good Morning," She corrected, rolling the next word over in her mouth before saying it aloud, "Dad."